Youngs General Store

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Stories About The Youngs

- submitted by Mary A. Greeley (daughter of William S. Young and Cora K. Young, sister of Geroge E. Young and John W. Young)

Just lately I've been thinking, if there were a reunion of everyone who at one time worked for the Young family of Stroud, what a very large group it would be.

When he first gave up farming Dad formed a partnership with a neighbouring farmer. George Martin. and they formed Martin and Young General Contractors. This partnership did not work too well and Mother and Dad's company became "William S. Young". Then partners were added and "Stroud Construction Company" was formed. Over the years many young men learned their trade and later branched out with their own companies.

The coming of World War 2 shut down local construction and the employees went to join the Army, do War work at Camp Borden or in War manufacturing factories.

Then, after the War, the Youngs turned their attention to becoming merchants and the idea for Youngs General Store was born. Mrs. Flora Banting had been Postmistress and operated the Post Office in Banting's General Store for many years. Mother had told me that she felt that Dad would never be able to do hard physical work again after his prolonged bout with pneumonia in England. Mrs. Banting was nearing retirement and Mother saw a potential for an enterprise, which would suit George and Dad when they demobbed from the Army and Air Force. Jack was nearing the end of Secondary School and would be looking for a job. To this end, she began saving and when it was time for Mrs. Banting to retire, they were ready to purchase.

These Youngs were William S. Young, Cora K. Young, George and Jack Young.

Throughout the years before the War, my mother had been Bookkeeper and "power behind the throne". Sometimes when an employee fell on hard times, they would come to live with us. One little girl, Bertie Mulholland, was born in our home. Just after Bertie was born she developed pneumonia. I remember arguing with my best friend on the way to school who would use this as "Show and Tell". Pretty macabre? Of course, she never was taken to the hospital but Mother and her mother, Helen nursed her through and back to health.

Before I left Innisfil, the Simcoe County Archives expressed an interest in having the books, which were kept by Cora. The names of the Payroll are there and these represent most of the families of the original Stroud and area. While they lived with us, Helen Mulholland helped with the books when the family company was "Stroud Construction Company".

And so if these people all came together, from as far back as 1929, it would be a very large gathering indeed.

Yes that’s Youngs – with no apostrophe. It is not a typo, nor is it a mistake. I once heard that a lot of thought and many discussions around the kitchen table went into the decision of whether or not there should be an apostrophe in the name and if so, where it would be.

As a possessive, one might think there should be an apostrophe as in “Young’s General Store”.

As Youngs General Store was owned and operated by three members of the Young family, perhaps “Youngs’ General Store” would have been more grammatically correct.

So I wonder why the decision was finally made to exclude the apostrophe from both “Youngs General Store” and later “Youngs IGA”.

William Young was a carpenter/contractor by trade, having given up farming. Perhaps he envisioned a difficulty in hanging an apostrophe in mid-air for signs he would later build such as the one you can see on the rooftop of a photo of the first Youngs IGA building in the photo gallery.